Senior Data Engineer, AI Platform

The role

You will design, build and scale the data platform that powers analytics, machine learning, Generative AI and Agentic AI. You will work with Data Scientists, ML Engineers, Software Engineers and Product teams to deliver AI-ready data products.

What you will do

• Design, build and scale the Data & AI Platform for analytics, machine learning, Generative AI and Agentic AI.
• Develop scalable data pipelines and architectures for structured, unstructured, batch and real-time data.
• Build AI-ready data products, semantic models and retrieval capabilities.
• Design and optimize vector search, hybrid search and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Implement streaming and event-driven solutions for near real-time insights, fraud detection and risk monitoring.
• Establish engineering best practices for data modeling, testing, observability, governance, security and reliability.
• Drive self-service and automation capabilities that improve developer productivity.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver trusted, high-quality data solutions.
• Mentor engineers and influence architecture decisions.

Required qualifications

• 8+ years designing, building and operating enterprise-scale data platforms.
• Deep expertise with modern cloud data platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, BigQuery or Redshift.
• Advanced SQL and Python skills, with experience in data modeling, ELT/ETL, dbt and orchestration (Airflow, Dagster or equivalent).
• Experience with streaming and event-driven architectures (Kafka, Azure Event Hubs, Spark or similar).
• Strong understanding of data architecture: dimensional modeling, semantic layers, governance, metadata management and observability.
• Experience supporting AI and machine learning workloads, including vector search, metadata enrichment, RAG and knowledge retrieval.
• Experience with lakehouse technologies and open table formats such as Apache Iceberg or Delta Lake.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (Azure preferred; AWS or GCP also acceptable).
• Experience with testing, CI/CD, infrastructure automation and operational excellence.
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor engineers.
• Strong ownership of data accuracy, consistency, reliability and quality.

Nice to have

• Experience building enterprise AI platforms, Agentic AI solutions or LLM-powered applications.
• Experience integrating enterprise LLM platforms such as Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Anthropic or Google Gemini.
• Familiarity with vector databases such as Pinecone or Weaviate, MLOps/LLMOps and AI infrastructure.
• Experience implementing data governance, metadata, lineage and data catalog solutions.
• Experience in fintech, payments, procurement, risk, compliance or enterprise SaaS.

Benefits

• Flexible working culture
• Incentive programs
• Unlimited PTO
• Generous paid parental leave
• Family support policies
• Company-sponsored 401k match
• Learning and wellness subscription stipend
• Employer-sponsored insurance for you and your dependents, with several 100% Zip-covered choices
• Casual dress code at the Union Square office

Before you apply

• Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
• Zip participates in the federal government's E-Verify program.
• Remote option is for US-based employees only.

About the company

Zip is a global Buy Now, Pay Later company that provides fair and seamless ways for millions of people to pay. It operates in Australia and New Zealand and the US, connecting customers with a global network of merchants.